Name: Jose L. Flores-Guerrero

Affiliation: Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico
Unviersity College London,U.K.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-luis-flores-guerrero/

X: https://x.com/JLuis_FG

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/joseluisfg.bsky.social

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Jose Luis. I am a research fellow at the University of Puebla, Mexico and also an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, UK. I have explored several aspects of research since I was a medical student in Mexico, until I finished my PhD in the Netherlands, from isolated heart perfusion experiments to machine learning for epidemiological studies.

What are your research interests?

My research interests are quite broad. I had work in the evaluation of reclassification methods for cardiometabolic disease. I’m particularly interested in the study of wearable-derived biomarkers for cardiometabolic risk stratification.

What are you working on right now?

I currently work in the assessment of arterial stiffness via Pulse Wave Velocity and its interaction with some microbiota-derived biomarkers in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

What do you hope to achieve in the field of hypertension over the next 5 years?

I now see 5 years as short-term, but I would like to contribute to how we can use data from wearables to have better risk classification, and to collaborate in the design of interventions that can reduce such risks.

What challenges have you faced in your career to date?.

Coming back home to Mexico, after being abroad almost 10 years, was quite hard, due the fact that I was not familiar with many administrative procedures, and also because getting research funds are particularly difficult here [in Mexico]. I’m very fortunate to be hosted by at very supportive and disruptive research centre at the University of Puebla.

Which of your publications are you proudest of and why?

I’m really proud of a paper I published when I was working on my PhD in Groningen.
I remember the peer review process was long and strict, but really helpful to improve the quality of our work. At the end that paper was selected as the most impactful in the category of population sciences that year.

Flores-Guerrero JL, Groothof D, Connelly MA, Otvos JD, Bakker SJL, Dullaart RPF.
Concentration of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Is a Strong Risk Marker for Incident Hypertension. Hypertension. 2019 Dec;74(6):1428-1435.
https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.119.13735

What is your favourite manuscript from a lab other than your own?

I remember one of the very first research papers that I read when I was a first-year medical student. It was about how ACE inhibitors modify the expression of extracellular matrix proteins, and how this impacts kidney function and therefore the progression of diabetic nephropathy. I was fascinated with those findings. The paper is: Alderson NL,et al. Effect of antioxidants and ACE inhibition on chemical modification of proteins and progression of nephropathy in the streptozotocin diabetic rat. Diabetologia. 2004 Aug;47(8):1385-95. doi: 10.1007/s00125-004-1474-8

What are your passions outside of work?

I try to spend most of my free time with my family, which includes my dogs: Ernesto, Tutu and Otilio. I also enjoy running and compete in medium and large distances.